Just as Orléans residents begin to recover from years of Stage 2 LRT disruptions, another major construction project is coming to one of the community’s busiest corridors—bringing fresh traffic headaches with it. Starting Feb. 17, The City of Ottawa will begin a water main renewal project beneath St. Joseph Boulevard, a stretch that already sees heavy daily traffic. The work is expected to last until into the spring. The project follows extensive structural testing conducted by the city on the major water main running beneath the road. According to the area councillor Laura Dudas, the testing was part of a proactive effort to identify weak points in the water system before failures occur. “There’s no sugarcoating it; it’s going to be disruptive.” Dudas says “It’s not going to be fun. I know I’m not going to enjoy it, but it will be protecting the resiliency of our water supply. It is going to be done fast tracked. (Taggart construction has) at least 2 to 3 crews who are going to be working here at all hours of the day, weekends, and they’re going to try to accelerate it.” Dudas says this will hopefully prevent a future watermain break. “This is good news and that this is proactive. They’ve been analyzing the structure of this particular pipe for well over a year now. They’ve determined that now is the time that they can come in with the crews, do the least amount of impact on the community, on traffic and repair and renew this section of water main pipe.” For many residents, the timing is especially frustrating, coming on the heels of years of lane closures, detours, and congestion tied to construction for the Stage 2 East Extension of O-Train Line 1. “Every construction project is kind of like ripping the Band-Aid,” Dudas said. “We’re going through it again. But again, we need to invest in our infrastructure. We need to make sure that we’re renewing these older pieces so that we don’t see failures. So, we’re being proactive.” The City of Ottawa does not anticipate shutting off water service during construction. If that changes, affected residents and businesses will be notified directly. What commuters can expect Traffic impacts will be unavoidable. Typically, two lanes of traffic—one in each direction—will remain open along St. Joseph Boulevard throughout most of the project; however, drivers should expect exceptions, including: The city says specific traffic impacts will be communicated ahead of each phase of work on the project webpage.
